Kelly Green: Eat Your Greens

Orlando, Florida-reared vocalist-pianist Kelly Green boasts one of the most distinctive styles in modern jazz, combining unique approaches to both the piano and the voice to create a satisfying, pleasurable experience for the listener. Green approaches each song as if she has a story to tell, emphasizing lyricism as much as range, but with the melodic approach of a pianist.

Green, therefore, naturally emphasizes musicianship on her sixth album, Eat Your Greens. A substantial, and impressive, group of musicians accompanies her: Luca Soul Rosenfeld (bass), Evan Hyde (drums), and Elijah J. Thomas (flute), who have, with Green, comprised her working quartet for several years, as well as Wycliffe Gordon (trombone/vocals), Wallace Roney Jr (trumpet/flugelhorn), Steve Wilson (alto saxophone), and Scott Robinson (tenor saxophone). The size of the ensemble is appropriate for a record that is strong and showy both in approach and output.

Released in the midst of a celebrated renaissance of vocal jazz, Eat Your Greens emphasizes fun; it generally is not an exercise in cerebral, inward focus. The album is at times cute and quirky, at other points tender and gentle, but most often big and bold. Sometimes this robustness can get a bit overwhelming, but it is always indicative of a premier talent whose approach to the music rests at the pleasurable midpoint between throwback and freshness.

Green is clearly a student of the music, and indeed, the highlights of the album are not necessarily Green's vocals, but rather her arrangements and the record's overall instrumentation. The arrangements are all fantastic. The opening track, a cover of Jerome Kern's "Nobody Else But Me" (the last song Kern ever wrote, for the 1940 revival of Show Boat), perfectly exemplifies Green's skill in creating her own interpretation of the Great American Songbook. Vocally, Green delivers a true Broadway- style performance, but when the vocals give way to the ensemble's harmonic bursts, it becomes a jazz song. Robinson shines with a vigorous solo, and—in contrast to her understated, conversational vocal style—Green's piano solo is fast and virtuosic, reminiscent of her mentor, Mulgrew Miller.

Green later combines Miles Davis' original, late-1940s version of "Milestones" (where Davis collaborated with pianist John Lewis) with her original lyrical composition entitled "Here and There." Green and her rhythm section experiment with time changes before settling down to a mid-tempo, swinging post-bop beat. The song features more stirring piano work, as well as a tasty bass solo by Rosenfeld.

Green and Gordon later engage in an exuberant duet on the 1920s standard "When You're Smilin.'" The two have a blast on vocals, and Gordon follows his cheerful singing with an equally ebullient trombone solo. Green then contributes more quick-tempo piano gymnastics, with Robinson kicking in some saxophone bars for good measure.

Eat Your Greens contains several instrumental tracks, and given the importance Green places on structure, they are in fact the album's high points. The title track is a straight-up swinger, which Green constructed from the bones of the standard "Cherokee." Rosenfeld and Hyde hold it down wonderfully on a fast-paced rhythm, and the rest of the group engages in a super-fun round-robin of solos (Thomas' flute is particularly engaging). Green's cover of Miller's "Tongue Twister" is the emotional center of the record, given Miller's importance to Green's education and career. The song begins with a pace that is considerably calmer than most of the album's other tracks, carrying the seriousness and weight of Green's musical upbringing. The tempo picks up during the second movement, with Wilson on alto saxophone and Roney on trumpet contributing free flowing, melodic solos.